Like Father, Like Daughter

I never did get around to writing about our Disneyland trip, did I? Hmm... I'm kind of a slacker. Maybe I'll work on that. More so I have a means of remembering any of it than anything else...

Miss Monster and I were looking through pictures last night before bed and I came across this one and just had to share it:

Seriously!?

I Guess I Should Have Added This to My Last Post

What rule in journalism gives the okay to not proofread or spell check your work when writing for online publishing? Before you put your name on it and put it out there for millions of people...

I'm not talking blogs. Errors there are a given. I am talking about valid, official online news sources. It's very disconcerting to see so many "news articles" barely make sense because of the typos and the misspellings in them. Maybe I'm just reading more of them, but it really seems that it's just been getting worse over time. Like people have just stopped caring. On both ends - writers stop caring to correct (or look for) their mistakes and readers stop caring to complain about it. Drives me nuts.

(If you're wanting to point out that my writing isn't perfect, who I am to criticize? Don't bother. I never claimed to have an education in it and I sure don't get paid to put it out there. I'm not a writer. But I do put forth the effort to make it the best possible. It seems even I try harder than some "professionals." )

Project Say Something: Pet Peeves

"We all have our pet peeves that drive us nuts... give us a few of yours."

We've established I'm a bit neurotic and a little nuts. It goes without saying then that I have a million little pet peeves. Of course I couldn't list them all even if I could think of them all. So I'm just going to spout off a few and leave it at that.

When people don't bother to tell you that they aren't going to talk to you anymore. So you just keep trying wondering what the heck is happening.

When people who stop talking to you give no explanation or reason.

When people don't respond to email, whether it be actual response or even just simple acknowledgement. Sure, some don't require either, but most do. Geeze.
(Are you sensing some abandonment issues here?)

Clothes hung on hangers backwards. Or the wrong color of hanger. Or the hanger is put on the rack in the wrong direction.

Items not folded identically in a drawer or pile.

When someone stands on the left of the escalator. (Especially when it's right next to the signs telling you, "Stand on the right. Walk on the left.")

When someone uses the knife with peanut butter still on it to get the jelly out.

When the foods on my plate touch. Foods cannot touch!

Empty (or not) soda cans and water bottles strewn about everywhere.

Garbage that's not in a garbage can.

Not using spell check.

Toilet paper on the holder backwards.

People who stop dead in their tracks without paying any attention to what is going on around them.

Mean people. Inconsiderate people. Unkind people. Disrespectful people.

When making a list of things that annoy you and you know you have some really good ones but you just cannot think of them to save your life. Yeah, that's my biggest pet peeve of all.

Who is This Kid?

Two firsts in this picture. Her first pigtails. I didn't even realize her hair was long enough to do anything to - I just knew it was long enough to drive me crazy but not long enough to get out of her face. I was obvioulsy wrong. I got home from work last night and day care had made her the cutest little *kid* around. She absolutely loved them, she was so proud of them - had to show them off and make sure they were there every few minutes. Loved them so much she made me do it again this morning. Sounds like I need to get to the store and buy some hairbands. I have no idea what to do with a little girl's hair. Help!

Second is the candy necklace she has around her neck. It came with her dinner. I wasn't too thrilled about it, but she didn't know it was candy and I sure wasn't going to tell her. Instead, we told her it was a necklace - a toy. She played with it all night. Put it on. Take it off. Endless entertainment. Works for me.

The craziest part of all though is how much of a kid she was sitting across from us eating her dinner. I am pretty sure it happened overnight. It's a little creepy.

15 Things

Things I am Giving Up On:

One sided friendships
My house ever selling OR renting
Gas prices ever being tolerable again
Real happiness
Fighting the fact that sometimes one really does need a little extra help
Being home before Christmas

Things that Give me Hope:

New friends
Relationships that don’t know my baggage
A toddler’s giggle
Nothing lasts forever (A little backwards, huh?)
A kind word from anyone

Things I will Never Lose Faith in:

My husband’s ability to amaze me (not always in the good ways, but that’s just fine too)
My daughter’s ability to amuse me
My sister’s ability to make me laugh (at her or with her, I have no preference)
My ability to keep going and putting on a good show

Jewelry Box

For one of my baby showers, Dan’s cousin gave me the most precious, teeny, tiny baby’s ring. I immediately fell in love with it and knew it would be something that would become a treasured keepsake. So treasured I think she’s only worn it a handful of times. I know, what’s the point of her not getting to enjoy it? Well, her not swallowing it would be that point. Nonetheless, it was something special. So it deserved a special place to be kept, right? I have spent ages looking for the perfect little girl’s jewelry box. I cannot find it. I don’t want it “cutesy” or “frilly” or “princessy” or too girly. I want it simple, elegant, charming and classic. One that is as special as the tiny things it will hold. Sure, when she gets older and gets “play” jewelry, we can get one of the cutesy, frilly, princessy or too girly boxes for her dress-up stuff. But for the special items, I want something special in which to store them. (If you have any suggestions, by all means, share! My search is not over!)

After months of looking and finding nothing that even came close to fitting the bill and the jewelry adding up and really needing a home, I caved. I made her one. It is by no means the perfect “special” box but it will do for now.

4 Miss M Stories

I know. I should use them for 4 different posts. But if I did that, they’d never get posted.

1.
We went shoe shopping the other day. I usually don’t put her down or at least keep her in her stroller but this time, I let her get down and walk around. Before I had done a thing, she knew exactly what to do. She sat down, took her shoes off and went straight for the highest, craziest heels she could find. She put them both on and walked around the store in them.

2.
Now that I am temporarily getting to spend more time with her at nights, we’re actually going out and doing things once I get home. The other night I took her out for ice cream. (Well, nasty, icky, gross frozen custard to be specific. Which is incredibly sad because frozen custard is so yummy!) I bought her her very own cup and sat her in her chair and let her eat it by herself. It was very sticky. But she loved it. I think she loved that it was “hers” more than she loved the actual ice cream. 

3.
Her Nana D sent her birthday stuff to her a while ago but we weren’t able to get it until last weekend. We opened everything up and she was thrilled over this little blanket/pillow combo she got. She made me put it out for her immediately – even though we were on our way right back out the door. I caved (surprise, surprise) and she plopped right down on it and didn’t want to move. She was just too comfy. And interested in the show she was watching that wouldn’t possibly match the blanket. No. Never. My kid doesn’t watch Mickey Mouse. Not ever. Ugh. 

4.
No, we weren’t driving. We weren’t moving. We weren’t even running. The car was completely turned off – we were just waiting for the rain to settle down a little before we ventured out of the car. She loves to do this. She pushes all the buttons, turns all the vents, causes all sorts of chaos for the next time I turn on the car.

Random Blurbs #10 and #11

#10 Why is it, women with normal size boobs can wear cleavage-bearing clothes and it’s fine – it looks completely tasteful – no matter how much they’re showing. But when a large-breasted woman wears something slightly cleavage-bearing, it looks and comes across completely trampy? What’s up with that!? (Yeah, I had to go clothes shopping last night. Not so happy about it.)

#11 Sleeping with a toddler is terrifying and painful. (Terrifying because it’s painful)

Family Fun Day

This past Saturday, Li’l Miss M’s day care hosted quite the event. They invited all of the families over for a day of fun that included a bounce house, clowns, the fun bus, the reptile guy, a kid’s musician, and all sorts of crazy amounts of food. It was a really great turn out and it was really nice to finally (after 2 years in some cases) formally meet some of the kids’ parents. You say hi, you chat about each other’s kids and everyone knows everyone’s kids, but none of the parents really know any of the other parents. So it was nice to get the chance to meet the parents of my child’s bestest friends. It was also good to get to see my demon child interact with other people she’s familiar with. She’s very comfortable over there, that’s for sure.

She had a ball. She was a little unsure of all the people and events when we first got there and stayed pretty close to us. But then we mentioned face painting and that quickly went to the top of her agenda. She stood and waited her turn, patiently, politely and quietly for at least 5 minutes. I know! My kid! Crazy, huh? When it was finally her turn, I put her up in the chair and she knew just what to do. She sat perfectly still and closed her eyes before the lady even turned to look at her. She knows what’s up – this is all old hat to her.

 

 

Next on her agenda was a balloon! MUST have a balloon. So she went to see the balloon lady and was given the cutest little lady bug balloon. It held her attention for a few minutes. Until she saw some of the other kids jumping on and popping their balloons. So, of course, that was the cool thing to do. She took hers off, threw it on the ground, put her foot on it and stepped down. POP! She was hooked. She kept going back for more balloons just to toss them to the ground and step on it to hear the little “POP” it would give. They were small balloons, not loud at all. Which is a good thing. Kids – and the heat – were popping those suckers left and right.  

 

In between balloon poppings, she tried out the bounce house. She wasn’t too thrilled with it the first time she went in. But the second time she was in there with some of her buddies and had a blast. And I would swear she was showing off for and flirting with the teenage boy charged with manning the house. Silly girl. 

She refused to eat or drink anything – she was just having way too much fun for that. It was so hot outside we kept trying to sucker her in to *something.* Then one of her little friends was given a snow cone. My child is such a follower. Suddenly it was okay to give her a snow cone to eat. It was her first one, she had no idea what to do with it, so of course tried to drink it. That didn’t work so well. She quickly figured it out and packed it around for a good while. I think she maybe only took 3 bites from it but kept going back to the lady serving them wanting more.

We were only there for a little over an hour but Madeleine had a blast. And we had just as much fun watching her. It’s nice to get out with her every now and again and experience a little bit of real life. I just wish we were in a position (or location) to be motivated to do it a whole lot more often. But, I guess that’s what makes the few times we do get to do it all that more awesome.

 

Project Say Something: If Video Killed the Radio Star, It Must Have Been Reality TV That Killed Video?

“Think back to when MTV actually played music videos. Tell us about 3 of your favorite videos.”

MTV used to play music videos? You mean, it hasn’t always been really bad reality TV?

I was a 120 Minutes girl. I stayed up way too late on Sunday nights to catch the “alternative” videos. Nights I couldn’t make it up that late (that should have been every one as Sunday nights were school nights but I’m a night owl, an insomniac, sleep is for wussies and who cares if I am barely conscious during first period I MUST get my weekly video fix), I would videotape it. I was more a fan of the “new wave” alternative videos than of the “industrial” alternative videos. Though looking back now, I probably like the then-considered industrial bands more than the new wave ones. Go figure.

I really don’t remember the videos. (That’s a theme in my life, I remember nothing. About anything. Ever.) To randomly pick three, I would go with three of The Cure - Just Like Heaven, In Between Days, and Hot, Hot, Hot.

Too Many Words Part 2

And just because I'm feeling picture-sharing happy today, I'll post a few more I've been meaning to get around to and have just been too lazy to make the effort.

Since we were in Utah for Madeleine's birthday, she got her presents from us late. As in, probably two weeks after we got home. And they weren't wrapped. And, well, she was with us when we bought them. We're not the best parents in the world right now, we know that. We're a little distracted. She still loved them. Well, loved one of them. Wasn't so much a fan of the other one, though she does like to watch it. She just hates it when it touches her.

Too Many Words

I've been extra word-heavy again lately and slacking in the picture department. Let's make up for that, shall we?

We spent the 4th of July with some friends. Hanging out, having dinner, letting the kids play, fun times. The kids hadn't seen each other in a while so it took them a few minutes to warm back up to each other (??? this was Madeleine's first friend and best friend, but whatever, she had just woken up) but once everyone was back to normal - they had a blast (getting in to all sorts of trouble). We did a few fireworks in their driveway before we headed out. We had no idea how either child would respond to them. Apparently, consensus was bright lights - good, loud noise - bad. They had a great time.

Li'l Miss M as we were getting ready to leave our house

The two buddies watching driveway fireworks

Project Say Something: Gas Prices Suck

In honor of the upcoming summer season and considering the high price of gas, most of us won't be taking road trips for a while. So pretend that gas is $2.00 a gallon and describe your ideal U.S. road trip (or one you had in the past that was a favorite).

This is a funny question to ask the girl who commutes for 5 hours a day. And yet, with as much time as I spend on the road, in the car, I would completely welcome a road trip. I love road trips. I do not love having to wake up at 5 in the morning to drive 3 hours to go to work, there is no fun in that.

My ideal road trip would be one up through New England - preferably in the Fall. Vermont, Connecticut, as long as I end up in Maine... No idea why but I’ve wanted to go to Maine for as long as I can remember. I thought moving to the East Coast would give me the chance to do that and then gas prices sky rocketed. Stinkin’gas prices. They ruin everything! (Have I mentioned my commute??)

We’ve taken quite a few road trips in our day and I don’t know that I could pick just one as a favorite. In Utah, we would road trip to Vegas and California rather often and oh, how I miss that. Whether it was just the two of us or with a group of friends, I always really enjoyed those. Last summer, we took a road trip to Nebraska. With a one-year old in the back seat. Most people would cringe and run from that. I absolutely loved it. Yeah, it got boring and frustrating and she hated being strapped in to her seat for such long periods at a time but all-in-all, we had a really great time. I hope, as she gets older, that’s something we can continue to do. Let her see the country.

One I did not like, however, was the time we drove from Utah to Virginia. Yeah. Not a fan of that one. We had the two dogs with us, we were trying to do it as quickly and inexpensively as possible and let me tell you, it was AWFUL! We ended up having to drive through the night because there were absolutely NO hotel rooms available along I-80 anywhere in Ohio. Ohio is a big, long, nasty state. I say “we” – I mean, of course, Dan. He did all that driving. All day, all night and in to the next morning. (I did drive for a couple of hours but it was nothing compared to him having to drive through the night. No idea how he does that.) I’d rather not do that drive again. Unless we were not on quite as tight of a schedule and could take our time and enjoy the sights and make a few stops here and there. Because pushing that hard to get across the country is well, plain CRAZY. (Yes, I’m talking to you, husband who drove the entire drive, alone, in what? two days because you’re flat out NUTS!)

Meme-esque Part 2

Remember ages and ages ago when I started answering random questions that I would just sprinkle through periodically? Yeah, neither did I until I happened to run across the file of questions this afternoon. Since I am stuck with nothing better to do (yes, I have exhausted my web-surfing ideas for the day even), I picked it back up and answered a few more.

How can you describe yourself in a sentence?
I am a walking contradiction.

Which is your favorite childhood hero?
Trying to think back to who my heroes were when I was a child, I’m coming up kind of blank. I know I loved Wonder Woman (what girl didn’t)? But I don’t know that I ever saw her as a “hero.” Or any one of the usual suspects in the “hero” category. I remember thinking of my teachers as heroes. Seriously. They knew everything. To teach us things we didn’t know, to help us grow and learn and become individuals. The ones who did that well, they were my heroes. Though the gold bracelets and lasso of truth were wicked cool and Lynda Carter was oh so beautiful!

Can you find easily 10 words rhyming with pencil?
Um. No. Stencil. Pretzel (it so does too rhyme!).

What did you dream you'd be when you were growing up?
A cheerleader. A nurse. An astronaut. A mom. A teacher. A lawyer. A musician. An actor.

Nice to know things haven’t changed much. I still can’t decide what I want to be when I grow up…

Do you have any nervous habits?
Chewing my lip. Picking at/biting my fingernails.

Do you have any bad habits? Why don't you quit?
See above. And add about a hundred. Because I am lazy (also a bad habit).

When you find a bug in your house, what do you do?
SCREAM. And then get resentful because bugs only exist in THIS house and if THIS house would just sell I wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore, dammit! And then scream some more. But those are only for the really icky bugs (DON'T CLICK HERE if you don't like nasty, icky, HUGE, GROSS, YUCKY creepy-crawlies. However, truth be told, I closed my eyes and linked to it so hopefully it does take you to the right place. I make no promises.) and spiders. Otherwise, if they’re just itty-bitty wussy ones, I just kill them and cringe and “ew” and “gross” and “yuck!” a little. But still feel resentful toward the house. I sure don’t skip that step.

If you could have a torrid affair with one celebrity, who would it be?
Today? David Tennant. What? I'm very non-commital, it could change tomorrow. But ... Oh yeah, the Tenth Doctor. Mmmm……

Project Say Something: Deserted

Ages and ages ago a number of questions were asked. I am a lazy slacker and kindly ignored them (in some cases, hoping they would go away as I have no answers worth sharing). They didn’t go away and now I am extremely behind. Now it is time to play catch-up.

You are stranded on an island and will be there for six months. What three things do you want to have with you? (They can't be people, food or electronic devices.)

Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Sunscreen

What you expected me to be clever enough to bring things to help me survive?? Without a toothbrush, I don’t know that I’d want to!

I Know There is One. There Has to Be. Right?

What’s the point of being in the city with so many things to see and do at lunch time when you’re not allowed to get out to see and do them?

What’s the point of making enough to make ends meet when you’re so miserable you don’t even care if they meet?

What’s the point of having the perfect things when you have no one around with which to enjoy them?

What’s the point of working your butt off, double-checking everything and trying your hardest when it’s just criticized or over-looked anyway?

Pay no attention to me. I’m just being whiney and self-pitying today. Which I don’t usually do. Especially in public. What am I thinking???